After Hour Meetings
by WGDWriter
Summary: Working at an ice rink had its perks. There were so many people to meet and seeing everyone show off their various levels of skills. But Feliciano's favorite thing was skating around the rink once it was close to lock up. But instead of being alone, Feliciano finds that there's still someone on the ice. Human AU/One-shot


A/N: This is another prompt from my GerIta group. This one was pretty cute to write and I had to do a quick bit of research on the ice resurfacers. Hope you guys enjoy this!

Also, if you don't already know, I have a poll on my profile for Forget Me Not. Please vote so I know what you guys would prefer I did!

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Five more minutes. That's all he had to wait before the coast was clear. It took every ounce of strength for Feliciano to resist tapping his pen on the counter as he waited for the last few customers to go and return their skates to him. He tried to not look impatient, but it was hard for the brunet to keep his pleasant smile. Usually, everyone would be out by now. It was getting pretty close to locked up, yet these guys were taking their sweet time leaving.

One girl was sitting with her skates still on her feet as she idly chatted with her friend, not even attempting to free her feet. Another group was laughing as they recounted the events of their time on the ice. Their skates were off their feet, yet they refused to bring them up to the counter. Feliciano could feel his smile becoming forced as the seconds ticked by.

 _Hurry up already!_ Feliciano internally pleaded, his cheeks beginning to hurt from the forced smile. Really, if these people didn't give him the skates… It was almost last minute when the skates were finally returned. Feliciano had to remind himself to do his usual goodbyes and did his best to make sure he didn't look rushed. Once the last customer exited the building, Feliciano rushed with his end jobs before punching out and grabbing his bag. _Please don't be too late._ Feliciano prayed as he rushed to the rink, his own skates in hand. He had to prevent himself from running down the halls as he reached the area where the ice resurfacer waited to enter the rink.

There he saw Alfred, a blond man younger than Feliciano himself, staring at the rink. Alfred was the one who usually cleaned the rink towards the end of the day and the two of them have become pretty close. Feliciano always had a passion for ice skating and would always try to get on the ice during his lunch break, which usually lead to him punching in late.

The solution to this came when Feliciano went and took a short cut and found Alfred getting ready to clean the ice. The two of them usually chatted a bit before the other had to head home, and many times Feliciano expressed his wish to skate more often. Alfred had been the one to suggest that Feliciano go and skate after hours and from then on, the two of them had an agreement. Feliciano could skate on the ice before being resurfaced as long as the brunet came before Alfred started up the machine. The longest the brunet went around skating was an hour, though he usually tried to stay on the ice for thirty minutes.

By the time Feliciano reached Alfred's side, he was afraid the other had already cleaned the ice. Catching his breath, two things became obvious to him. The first was the speakers were still playing music. It was common for Alfred to turn them on so he could listen to music as he worked, but if he wasn't working the speakers were usually turned off. The second was the rink wasn't abandoned as it should have been. Instead, a man in casual clothing glided smoothly across the ice. He was doing spins and jumps that Feliciano could only dream of doing while landing gracefully on his feet. Feliciano soon found himself at the entrance of the rink, somehow still unnoticed by the skater. By the time the music ended, the skater slowed to a stop and bowed as if he was performing in front of an audience. Though, he did end up nearly slipping when he heard two sets of clapping.

The skater straightened himself, locating Alfred and Feliciano before running a hand through his hair. "I-I apologize if I'm keeping you from your duties." The skater spoke with a deep voice filled with embarrassment, "I was told that I could use the rink after hours…"

"It's no problem dude." Alfred laughed, waving the apology off, "Take all the time you need."

With that, Alfred disappeared to probably sit more out of sight with the ice resurfacer. He took all the time he could. An extra minute could mean more money and from their previous talks, Feliciano knew Alfred needed every bit he could get.

Feliciano was the only one left, the skater staring at him as if expecting him to leave. When he didn't leave, the skater glided over to him and that was when Feliciano was able to pick up more details of the man. His hair was blond, half slicked back from when he pushed his hair back, and his build was hidden under a big sweater. It was hard to believe that such a burly man could be so graceful on the ice.

"If you're here to kick me off the ice…" the skater trailed off, most likely unsure if he should explain again.

"Ah, no." Feliciano flashed the man a smile, laughing a bit nervously, "I actually stay after hours to skate so…"

"Oh. I don't mean to intrude-"

"You're not! I promise you're not. If anything, I'm the one intruding. You got the ice reserved for yourself so I should technically go home. I mean, I can skate any time I wanted. You probably don't have many places to skate. Not that any other rink would allow you to stay after hours. I'm sure anyone would love to let you stay with the skills you demonstrated. Not that anyone would want to watch you skate. I mean, you obviously want to skate in privacy and people would stare at any other time. Not that anybody likes to stare. I-I mean…"

Feliciano stopped talking, closing his eyes in embarrassment. He was told that he rambled a lot when he got excited. Lovino told him so on many occasions. He really needed to fix that habit. Opening up his eyes, Feliciano wasn't quite sure if the other man looked annoyed or amused. He probably looked a bit dumbfounded if anything.

"I-I'm Feliciano." He decided to supply to get rid of the silence.

"…Ludwig." The other replied, offering his hand.

Ludwig had a really firm grip, Feliciano found out, but his touch seemed gentle at the same time. Ludwig moved back out onto the ice, eye contact only breaking for a moment. Feliciano's eyes moved to watch the man's feet, watching how they seemed to effortlessly glide as if the ice was the same as cement.

"How long have you been skating?" Feliciano called out.

"Since I was little." Ludwig surprisingly answered, looking back at him, "I'm actually planning on going to my first competition soon."

"You're not a professional?" Feliciano asked out loud.

Ludwig laughed, causing the brunet's cheeks to burn. Upon further inspection, Ludwig's face seemed to have turned a bit red though it could have been from the cold.

"I'm not that good yet. Alone I may seem fine, but I have a partner that I'm skating with. You probably wouldn't think so highly of me if you saw us together…"

"You can't be that bad!"

"I'm clumsy at best." Ludwig admitted, stopping by Feliciano, "That's the reason why I'm here so late. My partner was supposed to meet me here so we could practice, but so far she's a no show. She probably doesn't know you guys are staying open late for us to practice."

Feliciano hummed to himself and looked up at Ludwig. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Ludwig looked slightly confused before noticing that Feliciano had skates in his hands and connected two and two together. "I don't think-"

"It's only until she shows up!" Feliciano begged, "I'm guessing you're having trouble with lifts right? You can at least practice that with me."

"I-I don't know…" the blond frowned, gliding backwards a bit as he examined the other man, "I'm having trouble with more than just lifts. Besides, you don't know our routine."

"I'm a quick learner."

Feliciano watched at Ludwig looked at him with disbelief. He couldn't exactly blame him. He was a bit surprised with himself as well. Really, Feliciano just wanted an excuse to skate. Though, if he was honest with himself, he did want a chance to skate with this newcomer.

Ludwig sighed, looking around a moment before giving into a slight nod. "Very well. I suppose it makes sense to practice with you until she arrives. I can't really practice the routine without a partner."

Feliciano was quick to change into his own skates and did some warm ups as ordered by Ludwig. As soon as he was ready, Ludwig explained the routine as best as he could. The blond worked slowly with Feliciano, making sure he knew the first few steps and sped up accordingly. It was all good until the first lift came. Ludwig was a bit clumsy. He nearly let Feliciano slip out of his grip several times and with each mess up came a quiet curse from the blond.

"You were doing so well til then." Feliciano admitted.

"I told you." Ludwig sighed, moving to rest up against the railing.

"How long have you been working with a partner?"

"…A couple of months now. My coach figured it would be best for me to get used to partner routines since it might happen in a future competition."

"So you're used to working with just your own body weight!" Feliciano concluded.

"It's not just that." Ludwig explained, "I've used replacements in place of my partner and I've been able to go through the routine just fine. But when I'm working with a partner, I mess up."

"Then you don't trust yourself?"

"I do."

"Not really." Feliciano shook his head, gliding over to Ludwig and skated around him, "Would you say you trust your partner?"

"Yes. What does this have to do with trusting myself?"

"You said that you do just fine with dummy partners. If you drop a dummy, there's no harm. Nobody gets hurt and you can start from the top. But when you have you actual partner, do you have fears that you'll drop and hurt her?"

"…Yes."

"So that means you don't fully trust yourself. I felt that you lost momentum whenever you lifted me up. You slowed down because of your fear. You need to keep up or else you'll hesitate and actually hurt your partner. Get it?"

Ludwig slowly nodded and Feliciano just smiled in response before urging the blond to start from the beginning. When they got to the lift once again, Ludwig smoothly lifted Feliciano up before effortlessly setting him down. The smaller man cheered, hugging Ludwig for his improvement. The blond returned the hug, laughing before abruptly stopping. There was clapping from what Feliciano assumed was Alfred, but turning his attention to the sound showed that there was a man in a suit instead.

Ludwig pulled away from the hug, embarrassment and surprise on his face. "Gilbert? What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on ya." The man known as Gilbert smiled, waving at Feliciano as the brunet came closer.

Gilbert had platinum blond hair which could have been easily mistaken for white. He had a much smaller build than Ludwig and his eyes seemed to flash between violet and blue with the current lighting. The man looked between Ludwig and Feliciano a moment before settling on Ludwig.

"Amy was a no show?"

"So far." Ludwig admitted with a sigh, "I guess she quit too."

Gilbert frowned with disapproval and shook his head. He muttered something about uncommitted hires before landing his gaze on Feliciano. "I see you helped my trainee with his lifts."

 _Trainee?_ "You're Ludwig's coach then?" Feliciano asked.

"Yep! Coach and big bro. Pretty awesome huh?"

"Gil." Ludwig sighed with a roll of his eyes, "I'm guessing you came to check on my progress even though you said you wouldn't?"

"Hey, I'm allowed to be worried about you. Besides, I'm glad I did. I told Amy that if she didn't come she wouldn't be part of the team. She probably would have guilt tripped ya into lying otherwise." Ludwig was about to say something on the matter, but Gilbert turned to Feliciano. "Thank you for helping him. You've done more than any of the other assistant coaches have ever done. How about you become Ludwig's partner?"

Both skaters spluttered in surprise.

"Gilbert! That's not possible."

"Why not? He's a good skater!"

"He has a life besides skating!"

"B-Besides," Feliciano interjected, "I'm no professional. I haven't had the training Ludwig has. I wouldn't be of any help."

"West isn't a professional either. I'm still trying to get him into his first competition. Besides, I saw you two skating. You both work well together unlike all those other partners I tried to set him with."

Ludwig growled, pulling Gilbert into a hushed argument. Feliciano watched as the two of them argued, unsure of what to do. Despite just meeting Ludwig, he did feel that the two of them did work well together. He also did dream of skating among professionals. But it was just a dream. It could never come true…right?

"Why don't we let him decide for himself!" Gilbert said loudly, getting Feliciano's attention. Ludwig could only huff at the side while the man handed the brunet a card. "I know that this is sudden, but I believe that you and Ludwig would make an awesome team. I'll let you think it over. Just call with your answer and if it's a no, you won't hear from us ever again." Gilbert turned to Ludwig, a smug smile on his face. "Let's go West. Time to go home"

Ludwig sighed, getting off the ice before turning back to Feliciano, "Even if you do say no, maybe we can meet again? Just to skate if nothing else."

Feliciano smiled, nodding happily, "Sounds like fun."

There was a faint smile in return and soon Ludwig was gone along with his brother. Once Feliciano got off the ice, the familiar sound of the ice resurfacer filled the room with Alfred on top of it. He waved to the other man, a rather smug smile on his face.

"You were great out there! Held that guy there for almost two hours dude. If you say yes, you guys can stay late for however long you guys want."

Two hours? Now that was a new record. Feliciano made his way out of the building and a warm wave of air hit him. Removing his jacket, the brunet made his way to his car and while he was searching for his car keys, his fingers brushed up against Gilbert's business card. A small smile reached Feliciano's face, knowing that whatever answer he gave to the man, he was sure to meet Ludwig again.


End file.
